Ceramic shingle



1943- A. F. DE VAULT V 2,307,734

CERAMIC SHINGLE Filed May 26, 1942 INVAENTOR Ay/eff 'F- DeVm/If I BY ' I a ATTOkNfQ Patented Jan. 12, 1943 CERAMIC SHINGLE A ylett F. De Vault, Nichols, Conm, asslgnor to Tilo Roofing Company, lnc., Stratford, Coma, a corporation of Delaware Original application April 30, 1941,.Serial No.-

39L025. Divided and this 1942, Serial No. 444,532

laims.

This invention relates to the'art of making earthen or cement shingles and the like, and has for an object the provision of improvements in this art. V

This application is a division of application Serial Number 391,025, filed April 30, 1941; the original application being limited to a method of manufacturing theshingles, and the present divisional application being limited to the article. One of the objects of the invention is to producaa shingle in which the embossing or grain is clearly brought out by a two-tone efl'ect and made fully perceptible even at a distance. Another object is to produce selected color eifects with the emphasized grain effect. Another object is to produce grain and color efiects which are as permanent in character as the material on which they are produced. And yet another object is to produce the desired effects in a simple and inexpensive manner.

application May 26,

' added color pigment. If the bodyis one color or shade the surfacecoating layer will be another color or shade.

Cement-asbestos shingles may' be made, ac-

cording to one .common process, by forming a sheet from aslurry of asbestos fiber and cement on the cylinder of a machine by what is known as the Hatscheck" process. The details of this or other sheet-forming processes are unimportant here, it being onlynecessary to note that, as

" commonly practiced, there 'are produced limp sheets of any desired thickness and size, for

The invention is particularly applicable to the manufacture of cement-asbestos shingles and will be described in this connection; butit is to be understood that it applies as well to siding, blocks and other articles made of the same materials, and also to articles made of other moldable materials in a similar way.

One application of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a surface view of a shinglemade according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the lower end of Fig. 1; and v Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a section through the shingle.

A popular type of outer covering. for buildings is a rock-like cement-asbestosshingle which is formed with a grain to imitate a weather worn wood shingle. However, when such a shingle is;

made in the natural color of the material the efiect of the gralning is largely lost, particularly at a distance. When the shingle is made in colors the 'eflect is still lost if, as is usual, the color pigment is uniform throughout the entire body or over the entire surface of the shingle.

According to the present invention, a distinctive coating is applied to the shingles and this is done in such a manner as to be discontinuous at the proper places to bring out the graining by contrast between the coated portions and the exing, the sheets are;cut= into posed uncoated portions. The coating material is' present in the-valleys but is largely absent on the crests; and on the gentler sloping portions it is irregular and of a somewhat rivuleted appearance. This enhances the weather worn appearance in 'a example, about thick and about 25" x 25" in extent. These sheets remain in a limp condition resemblingrolled out pie dough until the cement begins to harden, which is a matter of three or four hours. Since the surface begins to harden first, a skin is formed on each side and thednterior attains a state of increased coherency suflicient to prevent pulling apart or splitting when the plates are separated after the pressing operation, next to be described.

Continuing with the common process for mak-; ing grained shingles, the drying but still impressionable sheets, say after about three hours .(the period varying considerably with atmospheric and other 'conditions) are placed in alternation between embossedplates of a plastic material such as Bakelite. The plates may be made of cloth and a plastic, of hard rubber, bronze, aluminum or othersuitable materials. Preferably the grained plates are embossed on both sides and alternate with smooth metal plates between the sheets. The stack of plates and alternating sheetslis placed in a press and subjected to a high pressure of say 2500 or 3000 lbs. per square inch. This presses out considerable water and causes the sheets to take the-embossing or graining of the plates. The sheets are then removed from the plates and placed in stacks to' cure or set for at least ten' days, in a; moist condition. Certain manufacturershasten .the cure by placing them in steam chambers and in other ways known in the curing of cemnts. After curing and harden the exact sizes. de-

sired'for finished shingles.

According to one known process, if 'colored shingles are desired, thecolor pigment is added to the entire amount-of slurry from which the body of the shingles or the outer layer is formed. This produces a monotone over-the entire surface and this single color alone does not bring out the graining, as desired.

According to the present invention, the sheets are formed from the basic material, asbestos-cement slurry, on the cylinder and taken of! as usual.

But instead of treating the sheets in the usual way, the process is altered to produce the twoexposed as a furry felting of a color lighter, than that of the unweathered valleys.

tone embossed shingles desired. One method which has been found satisfactory is as follows.

Before the sheets are pressed to form the graining, they are coated with a material of another color or shade. They may, for example, be sprayed with'a slurry of cement containing the desired color pigment. Or a dry film of pigmented cement may be applied which is moistened after application, as by the water left in the shingl or by a dampening for the purpose. Or a coating layer may be flowed on and the excessremoved in a convenient manner as by an air blast. The coating produced is very thin and adheres to the sheets. ,Eventually it becomes integrai with the sheets, particularly when of a like nature. The coating is applied just before the sheets are assembled with the embossed plates for pressing. If the coating is thus applied to partly cured sheets and is still damp when the graining is embossed on the sheets, the coating layer will be broken at the grain crests to expose the differently colored base material and thus bring the graining into relief. If the pigmented slurry is applied earlier and becomes drier, it will adhere to the base material uniformly throughout its entire surface and will not break up or be removed at places to expose the base material and bring the graining into relief, as dmired. If the sheets are coated in the usual ways after the grain impressing operation, the effect is artificial like that of common painted surface coatings.

In the drawing, the cement-asbestos base is represented by the numeral III, the grain crests by H and the valleys by the numeral l2. The

coating is shown greatly exaggeratedin thlckcement material or slurry and isbonded homogeneously in curing with the base material, and

- also because it is left principally in the depressions where it will not weather away. The crests, on the other hand,- are largely free of the pigmented layer and this closely simulates the appearance of a weathered shingle because, in weathering, a

wooden shingle has the fibers on the grain crests The effect may be produced by the application of the fresh coating layer to a body surface which has become tenuous, together with a suitable treatment to remove the still unhardened layer from the crests. When the effect is produced in the pressing operation, it may be due to the escape of water from the crests, that is, in the valleys of the mold, after the crests of the mold have firmly engaged the other portions-of the layer. This theory is supported by the observation that as the molds press into the sheet to form the grain, there is a heavy outflow of water from the embossed faces. The crests. and particularly the gentler sloping'surfaces near the crests, give the appearance of water flow having washed off part of the coating layer. In part too the eflect may surface. The length of the surface across the grain may be doubled in this change. The coating layer, being unhardenedand not yet firmly attached to the base surface, will break and the base surface will stretch to form" the exposed crests free of the coating layer.

While certain theories of the creation of vthe effecthavebeendiscussed, it is to be understood that the invention does not depend upon these or any other theories, it being sufflcient to know that the procedure disclosed will produce the desired article. Moreover, this may not be the only procedure by which the new article maybe produced. Therefore, the invention is not to be limited except by the prior art and the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim: 1. A grained asbestos cement shingle comprisfiber anda thin coating of pigmented cement integrally knit thereto. to leave the surface with crests and valleys the coating being absent on the crests at the top and for a distance down on the sides to expose the base material and being pres-1 ent in the valleys, to produce a two-tone weathered effect.

2. A grained ceramic article comprising an' embossed base and a thin coating thereon, to leave the surface with crests and valleys the coating being largely absent on the crests at the top and for a distance down the'sides to expose the base material, being present in the valleys'at the bottom and for a distance up the sides, being partly present and partly absent on the. gentler sloping sides in a mottled or rivuleted fashion, and the joining lines between coated and uncoated portions being ragged and irregular, to produce a two-tone weathered effect.

' AYLETT F. DE VAULT. 

